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The Senators came close to losing another important player -- with an all-too-familiar injury -- 48 hours before a game where his skills are most needed and appreciated.

What would the Battle of Ontario be without Chris Neil, whose scowling, scarred game face is the link between glorious Senators-Leafs showdowns from the past and present-day meetings that -- with both teams returning to relevance in the Eastern Conference -- are once again something to get excited about?

You would have found out had the skate blade of a sliding Ranger dug a little deeper into Neil's lower leg Thursday night. As it turned out, the veteran winger needed only a couple of stitches and he was back in the thick of things, finishing with two assists in a 3-0 Ottawa win. But for a brief moment at the time of the incident, Neil thought his Achilles tendon might be sliced the way Erik Karlsson's was in Pittsburgh last month.

"It crossed my mind, for sure," Neil said. "I was lucky."

At 33, Neil is having another exceptional season. In 34 games, while averaging a little more than 14 minutes a night, he has three goals, 10 points and a plus-4 rating -- all the while doing what he does best, as good or better than ever.

Along with 96 penalty minutes (third most in the league), he has moved into second place among all NHLers in hits with the 25 in the first four games of this homestand bringing his season total to 145.

Against a Leafs team that fights and throws its bodies around more than any other, Neil's tougher numbers are sure to rise Saturday.

"Toronto is playing well, they're a hard team to play against," he said. "They play physical, they're a pressure team. We've got to be prepared for that. We've got to try and take the pace of the game to them, not the other way around.

"It'll be a physical game. They have been all year against them. You've got a team that's behind you by two points and they're clawing to get up there. We want to keep them behind us."

Chances of that happening are much better with Neil than they would be without him.

FUELING UP

A player's traditional, pre-game steak is most often devoured the day before its benefits are required. As such, we wondered if Senators players were going to eat meat on Good Friday. "It is my job and you've got to prepare," said Neil, a member of the United Church. "My preparation starts the night before a game. My stretching routine, what I eat, what time I go to bed. Everything. I usually like steak the night before. I'll eat whatever I feel like." ... Marc Methot (who, by the way, is now 20th in the NHL with 94 hits): "Tough call. It's either fish or steak. I'm not super religious, but I do respect the process." ... Andre Benoit: "I think we're going for fish and chips. It's more tradition than anything else. I think it's all just good habits, trying to eat well all the time. I don't know if one (meal) is more important than the other. I'm sure there's an answer to it, but I don't know it." Best fish and chips in town? "Give a plug to Philly," Benoit said of blueline partner Chris Phillips. "I think we're going to Big Rig."

THIS AND THAT

Two Senators complimented for their performance Thursday by Paul MacLean were rookies Mike Hoffman and Mika Zibanejad, whom the coach said was the team's best forward. "I'm trying to get as many of those games as possible," said Zibanejad, who had two assists. "It's not going to be like that every night, but you try to (stay) close to that. I feel like when I play my best game, I skate and I'm hungry. I'm there. I want the puck and I want to shoot it. Just got to go with it." ... Back to speaking of hungry, Zibanejad's eyes lit up when he spoke about "Taco Friday." ... In his first NHL game of the season (and second of his career), Hoffman was an uncooperative puck away from opening the scoring in the first period's first minute. Speaking about what will be his first experience with the Battle of Ontario, the Senators' new first-line left winger didn't anticipate getting nervous. "I think it's just going to be a lot of fun," said Hoffman, who before Thursday had never played in front of a crowd 19,000-plus large. "The adrenaline was flowing. But once you get on the ice, you just zone everything out and just focus on hockey. Once we get a couple of goals, you can hear the energy in the crowd. It's good."

COACH'S CORNER

MacLean (Paul, not Ron) has talked to the Senators about what he acknowledged were the "distractions" of trade deadline. "All we've said about it is 'you're players, come in and be players, you don't control anything else.' But at the same time, they have family and brothers and sisters. Even if they're not reading it, someone in their family is reading it and so I'm sure they get involved in it. So it's there." It's considerably easier on him. "They can't trade me," agreed MacLean. "They can fire my ass, I guess, but they haven't traded a coach yet. I sleep pretty good right now." ... MacLean was asked what trade deadline was like when he played. "In '85 in Winnipeg, the big announcement was there would be 15 games on TV," he said. "It's way different then than it is now, there's more focus on it now, actually TV shows about it. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. The uneasiness of a player (around the deadline) I don't think changes."

The Senators came close to losing another important player -- with an all-too-familiar injury -- 48 hours before a game where his skills are most needed and appreciated.

What would the Battle of Ontario be without Chris Neil, whose scowling, scarred game face is the link between glorious Senators-Leafs showdowns from the past and present-day meetings that -- with both teams returning to relevance in the Eastern Conference -- are once again something to get excited about?